Sunday, June 03, 2007

After making the Por Lor Paulast week, I attempted them again as I was not very satisfied with ‘pineapplle skin’. However, this batch didn’t turn out any better. Disappointment aside, something did turn out well – the bread.

Once again, I used the Hokkaido Milk Loaf recipe, but adapted it to make a black sesame loaf. I have always been fond of using sesame seeds in my baking, so when I bought a bottle of ground sesame ‘powder’, I wanted to see what I could do with it, and this bread recipe came just in time.

Below is my adapted recipe. Click herefor the original recipe from Schneider.

1) Dissolve yeast in water. Set aside for 5-10 mins, stir to dissolve yeast.2) Mix flours, milk powder, sugar, salt and sesame in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add in yeast mixture, egg, cream and milk.3) Using the paddle attachment of the mixture, mix on low speed until the mixture starts to come together in a ball. Switch to dough hook and knead dough on Speed 2 until soft and elastic, about 10 mins.4) Round the dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.5) Punch dough down, then cover and rest for 10 minutes.6) Shape dough into a loaf and place in a greased/lined 8” by 4” loaf tin. Cover with cling wrap and let rise until dough has risen to about double the height, about 45-60 minutes.7) Bake in a pre-heated 180C oven for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Turn the bread out onto a wire rack to cool.

The above method is based on using a stand mixer. If you’re kneading by hand, at Step 3, mix everything with a wooden spoon to form a slightly stiff dough. Then turned onto a floured worktop and knead until smooth and elastic. Proceed as for Step 4 onwards.

If you like asian-style breads, this would be the recipe to try, for it's soft and moist, and its softness lasts beyond 2 days, which is pretty good considering this is made without any commercial bread improvers.

Hi Angie,I love making these type of bread.Unfortunatetly,I am only the one to fill one of three tummies.It's no fun!!I have to wait some more yrs to make my kid eat.Thanks for the tip.But I never able to see bread flour and cake flour in my shopping market.I prefer direct buying than online shopping which seems to be above than wishful budget and requirements of a family.

Heya! I made polo buns quite awhile ago but haven't got down to posting it - if i would. The skin turned out pretty good although I must say, your milk bread looks way fluffier.My skin recipe is:1 egg yolk125g butter125g icing sugar2 tsp milk powderPinch of salt200g all purpose flourChill it abit if it's too sticky to roll.You can have a look at them at:http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1325/533179831_f46681d544.jpg?v=0I'm going to try your bread recipe one day. I also made melon-pan haha. A lot of my bakes don't appear on my blog =P